


Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...

by MagdaTheMagpie



Series: Marvel & Magic [14]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Dimension Travel, Magical Artifacts, Multi, Portals, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-16
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-08-03 00:07:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16315289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagdaTheMagpie/pseuds/MagdaTheMagpie
Summary: Bucky is not happy with the ugly old mirror Steve hung in their appartement, especially when it turns out to be haunted.





	Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Marvelously Magical Bingo 2018!   
> Square O2: Hermione/Bucky/Steve

 

“Steve! Steve, get your puny ass here  _ right now _ !”

Steve rolled his eyes but jumped off the fire escape where he'd been drawing and back into the Brooklyn flat he now shared with Bucky, knowing full well his friend wouldn't stop screaming until he did actually get his perfectly normal-sized ass where he wanted it. A light flush flooded his cheeks as he thought of where exactly he'd like to put his ass if he dared, but he affected nonchalance like a boss as he marched up to him, because he was Captain Goddamn America.

“What's up, Buck? Another spider cornered you?”

“Shut up,” Bucky snapped, with mock anger. 

Bucky pointed at the wall facing the window of their living room.

“What the fuck is this thing?”

“It's called a mirror, Buck. Or are you talking about your reflection, because in that case I understand why you're so frightened.”

“I swear I'm going to kick the sass out of you one of these days, Steve. I meant: why is this ugly old thing here?”

“Again: you talking about yourself, pal?” 

Bucky punched his arm with his metal fist and… ouch, that really hurt. Teasing had already reached its limit for today apparently. “It's an antique, Buck. Found it at the flea market yesterday. And it's not ugly, it's… unique. I like old things.”

“Yeah you do, gramps,” Bucky said with his patented  killer-wink before turning serious once more. “I don't like it.”

“It's just a mirror,” Steve said, laughing it off.

“I thought…”

Bucky trailed off, sporting a troubled frown Steve hadn't seen since he got his friend back, all damaged and confused and lost.

“I thought I saw something…  _ in _ the mirror.”

His first instinct was to dismiss Bucky's concern, but heck, they had seen far stranger things than a haunted mirror. Steve nudged Bucky aside to have a good look at the mirror himself. It was oval with a large wooden frame carved out of leave patterns all around. He'd liked it. It had a history unlike the modern cold, rectangular slabs of mirror he had seen in the shops. But if there was more to it, or even if it was just causing distress to Bucky for no good reason, he was going to have to get rid of it.

Then he saw it too. Movement and a dark shape where there should be none.

“Fuck,” he said while his goody goody Captain America subconscious berated him for such language. 

“Told you,” Bucky growled, his arm clicking in preparation of an attack as the metal plates shifted.

“What the hell is it?” Steve muttered.

They both leaned in, eyes narrowed, completely transfixed by the shape as it grew, and grew, and came into focus. Bucky let out a stream of curses as a face appeared. A distorted face that reflected neither of theirs. It banged on the other side of the mirror and Steve was tempted to take it off the wall to look behind. Bucky was growling at the thing.

“Should we… break it?” Steve asked.

“Dunno. That might free the ghost, right? Don't you have a Bible or something to exorcise it?”

Steve grimaced. His mom would be sitting him down for a very stern lecture if she knew he hadn't gotten a Bible for his new home, and that was putting it nicely.

“I could run out to get a priest…” Steve offered.

“Sell those on street corners nowadays?” Bucky muttered.

Another bang against the other side of the mirror made it vibrate and swing from its nail on the wall.

“Right, I'm throwing this thing out,” Bucky decided and reached for it.

“Wait,” Steve said, grabbing Bucky's arm midway.

He focused on the mirror. It was making a sound. A sort of wail, but if he listened very closely, it was almost like a word, only slowed down. He tried to put the sounds together. “Hell?”

“Sweet baby Jesus,” Bucky exclaimed. “I’m setting fire to this thing.”

“No, no. Wait, maybe it's saying hello?”

“The hell it is!”

The mirror bucked against the wall again and they stared at it, holding their breath while letters appeared, traced backwards like they used to do as kids on frozen windows during the harshest winters.

H… E… L… P

“Help! It needs help!” Steve exclaimed.

“Yeah, thanks Captain Obvious, but I'm not helping it. I bet it only wants out so it can eat the nice, tasty, super soldiers.”

“But…”

“Don't be a dunce, Steve.”

The mirror shuddered again and Steve could swear he heard a sob from the other side, the sound as low, slow and deformed as the cry for hell, or help as the case may be. But Bucky was probably right. Steve did tend to run head first into danger when he heard a cry for help, without pausing to think whether it might be a trap ot not. He still felt bad about ignoring it, whatever it was.

“We should find someone to check out this-”

As he looked at the mirror, he saw a small white hand pressed against the surface. A very human hand, only half his size, palm first as if supplicating, literally reaching out for help.

“Bucky,” he breathed out, not caring it may have sounded like a whine.

“Fuck it,” Bucky said and punched the surface before Steve could stop him.

Only the glass didn't shatter. Bucky's metal arm went right through the surface and seemed to suddenly slow despite his momentum. Tiny, beautiful frost lace immediately climbed up the metal arm.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Bucky said wide-eyed as he stared at the cold pattern racing past his elbow.

He tried to pull back his arm but barely managed to move it, as if it was trapped in a pit of tar. Steve stepped behind Bucky and grabbed him around his waist and torso to pull him back.

“Keep pulling!” Bucky said. “Wait! There's something… there's someone clinging to me. Pull harder, Steve. Harder!”

Steve blushed furiously at those words he had heard only in his dreams before, and in a wildly different context. He yanked back, his heel digging in their polished floor and probably leaving dents there. How was the mirror even still on the wall?

“It's working! One more pull! Come on!”

With one mighty heave, Steve wasn't fighting an opposing force anymore and he stumbled back with an armful of Bucky. He somehow managed to avoid the coffee table and hit the corner of the couch instead. 

“Buck! You alright?”

Bucky was nodding, breathing hard. Steve glanced at the mirror to make sure it was not a threat anymore, only to find it floating in the middle of his living room. Well, that answered one question and prompted many others.

“What the heck is that thing?” 

“Portal of some sort,” Buck said as he shifted to sit up. “Fucking winter in there, worse than Russia in a blizzard, but it's got hot babes so who am I to complain?”

“What?”

Bucky turned to show off his prize with a shit-eating grin. He held an unconscious woman bundled in layers of wool and furs in his arms: pale with a blue tinge to her lips that didn't bode well.

“We have to warm her up,” Steve said. “And call an ambulance.”

Bucky glanced at her, then his metal arm.

“I'll call an ambulance. You know what to do,” he said reluctantly.

Steve nodded and stood before taking the woman out of Bucky's arms, feeling like he was confiscating his favourite toy. He observed her as he took her to his bedroom: still shivering, that was a good sign, but unconscious, which wasn't. It might only be because she came out of a frigging mirror. Breathing was a shallow however. He put her in the middle of his bed and checked her pulse. Bit weak. She seemed to be suffering only mild hypothermia, but it could turn critical it he didn't rise her core temperature very quickly. With a scowl, he patted her clothes, deciding the outer layers had to go. Not wet, but damp enough as the frost-covered clothes began to melt.

“Sorry Ma'am,” he muttered before pulling her clothes off as fast as he could: cloak, scarf, coat, another scarf, gloves, her boots. Her socks were wet so he took them off and her feet were  _ freezing. _ He took a few seconds to rub them between his warm hands, if only to get the blood flowing, glad he was always warmer than average. Thanks super-serum. But he had to get her core temperature up and just the feet weren't going to cut it. He slipped in bed next to her and pulled all the blankets over them, tucking her in and placing her feet between his thighs, wincing at the cold even through the protective layer of his running pants. He wrapped his arms around her and breathed out, trying to relax around her like a friendly octopus. He had done what he could until an ambulance got here. Bucky walked in with a scowl.

“On their way. And Stark's here cooing at the floaty mirror.”

“How the hell did he know?” Steve hissed, doing his best to keep his voice low.

“Said Friday alerted him we called for an ambulance and he was “worried”.”

Bucky didn't need to make air quotes for Steve to hear them.

“Nosy bugger.”

Bucky nodded and the bed dipped in front of him as he sat. before plucking the hat off the woman's head. Wild dark curls tumbled out and tickled Steve's nose.

“Bucky,” he admonished.

“What? It was wet. Besides, it's cute,” he added and Steve wasn't sure whether he was talking about her or the fact he was trying to flee the tickling curls while moving as little as possible.

“Make yourself useful and come under the covers. She's still shivering.” 

“Thought you'd never ask, buddy.”

Steve narrowed his eyes at his friend through the hedge of curls. Was Bucky doing that on purpose? He was throwing more double-entendres his way today than he ever had before, but maybe he had simply never caught on before, or Steve was just hyper aware of the guy since he started fantasizing about his best friend in a not so friendly way. And dammit, he couldn't think about that right now, but Bucky was making that very difficult to ignore when he settled his limbs around the woman and him by extension. Buck was very careful to fold the cold metal arm under the pillow, but he used the other to warm the woman’s hands and occasionally brushed against his own arm, sending tingles down his spine and straight to his cock. Steve shifted away from her and prayed for the ambulance to arrive quickly before he made an accidental pervert out of himself. On the bright side, he felt his embarrassment make him give off even more heat than usual. With two of them cocooning her in a blanket nest, she should warm up real quick.

“Do you think she's human?” Bucky asked, barely above a whisper.

“She looks it, but Thor and Loki look human too, so who knows? We'll have to wait for her to wake up to tell us her story.”

“So we'll be seeing her again you think?”

“She appeared out of a magical mirror. You really think the suits are going to let her wander off willy nilly? She'll be interrogated and then, who knows? Depends if she's useful, or deemed dangerous-”

“You're starting to make me regret pulling her out of the mirror.”

“She's the one who wanted out, remember? Probably would have frozen to death if you hadn't, so it's a moot point anyway.”

Bucky hummed, his flesh hand drawing patterns on her warmer hands now. The tips of his fingers would sometimes slip onto his biceps and linger there a beat too long before resuming his coddling of the woman..

“We could keep her,” Bucky said.

“Buck… she's not a thing or a puppy-”

“I know, I know. I mean… I found her and brought her here, so I'm sort of responsible for her now, right? If anything bad happened to her, it would my fault.”

That accounted for how possessive he was being of the woman, which made his own jealousy uncoil from around his heart. He was being stupid, and selfish. Very un-Captain America. Bucky, on the other hand, only had this stranger's best interests at heart.

“We'll make sure she's treated right,” he promised Bucky who smiled at him with a happy nod, just as the medics burst in with Tony in the lead.

“Well, isn't this cosy? You could have invited me to your little sleepover.”

“Got a radiator packed in that suit?” Steve asked as he helped the medics by hefting the unconscious woman onto the stretcher, stepping back when they began wrapping her in silver and gold blankets.

“As a matter of fact, I do.”

“And you get affronted when people call you a glorified toaster.”

“Ouch, Cap. Prickly, prickly. Got anything to do with that creepy mirror floating around your living room? Did it tell you you weren't the prettiest of them all?”

Steve scowled at him, stepping aside for the stretcher to roll pass them with Bucky in tow.

“Meet me there?” he said and Steve nodded because if Bucky was responsible for their frozen visitor, he was responsible for the mirror itself.

“Any idea what it is?” he asked Tony.

“I have zero idea. Like… not even one. Zilch. Nada. It's not sciencey, so I'm guessing magical. I already called for Strange to have a go at it and he should be here-”

The mirror suddenly crashed to the floor, the surface breaking in a spiderweb pattern, a few shards skittering across the floor.

“That's weird,” Stark said, turning on him. “That's weird, right?”

“Not any more than when Bucky pulled a woman out of it, or when it started spinning around like a disco ball.”

“Ooh. A flying disco ball! I kinda like that!”

“Tony,” Steve said as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Someone's been dabbling in magic,” came a smooth voice behind them that made both of them jump.

“I swear I'm going to put a bell on him,” Tony muttered before plastering on his fakest smile. “Strange! Thanks for coming, although I'd say you're a bit late. We had a self levitating mirror spitting out people, you see, but now it's- Oh well, never mind.”

The mirror was putting itself back together and began floating again. Strange approached, humming appreciatively, then he did his glowy hand thing and the mirror dropped again, but did not break.

“So you know what it is?” Steve prodded.

“Uhm. I have an idea, but I'll need to do some research at the library. From what I can deduce on the spot, it's a portal to another dimension that feeds on magic. Someone emerged from it, you say?”

Steve nodded.

“Bucky pulled her out. She was calling for help.”

“That person is no doubt magical in some way or other. I should go meet with her.”

“She's at the hospital. The place on the other side of the mirror was really cold.”

Strange picked up the mirror and opened a portal through which he dumped it on a table, then he closed it it and opened another to a hospital corridor. Steve had to admit, the guy was kind of annoying but he did have neat tricks. A shame he didn't want to join the Avengers. Not his area, according to him. He dealt in the metaphysical threats or something. Steve had stopped listening after a couple of minutes of not understanding a word coming out of his mouth. In that aspect, he was very much like Tony, except Tony wasn't so condescending about it. Strange might make a good ally in protecting the woman however, since she was magical according to him, even if it meant whisking her off to… wherever the heck Strange lived. He was leading him through the hospital's labyrinthine corridors as if he had a homing pigeon on the woman's magic, and they arrived just in time to see Bucky leaving a room, his flesh hand rubbing his sore cheek. He stared at them for a beat too long.

“She's awake,” he muttered.

“Did she… slap you?” Steve asked. “Dames don't usually do that until the morning after. What did you do?”

“You know when we were debating what to do about the mirror?”

“Yeah?”

“Turns out she could hear us, loud and clear, so… well, she's not too happy with me. Said I was a trigger happy hobo who would rather shoot first and ask questions later rather than use my brain cells to deal with a delicate situation like a civilized human being. She didn't even need to catch her breath to get that insult out.”

“To be fair, she's kind of right. Think I'll get slapped too if I go in there?”

“Doubt it. You were all for saving her from the start.”

Steve looked at Strange, who smirked back.

“Lead the way, Captain.”

With a huff, Steve squared his shoulders and pushed the door open, only to find their patient pulling a handful of wires off her body. She froze, caught with her hand in the proverbial cookie jar.

“Leaving so soon?” Steve asked as he cocked an eyebrow.

“I don't need a hospital,” she said primly while she straightened the flimsy hospital gown.

Steve was taken aback by her British accent. He didn't know why. For all he knew she might not even have spoken any human language, or maybe she used the Allspeech like Thor, except Thor didn't have a British accent so it didn't make much sense…

“You were frozen half to death,” Steve argued, then put on his sassy pants. “Or do you not remember me and Buck cuddling with you in bed to warm you up?”

Her cheeks turned bright pink.

“Where are my clothes?” she asked instead.

Strange pointed at a chair set against the far wall and she jumped off the bed.

“I really think-”

“Out. I'm getting dressed.”

Steve scowled at her.

“Alright, I'm getting dressed whether you're here or not. Didn't peg you for a peeping Tom.”

A blush crept up his cheeks and he turned tail. The woman was a menace. He hoped Strange got her out of their hair. At the door, he noticed the other man hadn't followed him.

“Strange?”

“Oh, I'm not leaving.”

“What?” 

“I'm calling her bluff.”

Steve paused and looked back and forth between her and Strange as they had a staring stand-off.

“Fine,” she said and crossed her arms over her chest. “What do you want?”

“An explanation would be nice,” Steve said. “Who are you? Where are you from and why are you here? How did you come out of my mirror, and should we expect more visitors to pop out?”

She mulled over his questions then asked one of her own, unsurprisingly. That seemed to be a trait of hers.

“You don't seem all that surprised by what happened. Is that a normal occurrence around here?”

“Well, mirror aside, Strange here uses portals all the time, so…” Steve shrugged.

“Really?” she asked, turning her attention to Dr Strange.

“Dr Strange, Sorcerer Supreme,” he said and offered her his hand.

She frowned and shook it absently, once more asking more questions instead of introducing herself.

“Sorcerer. Magic?”

He nodded.

“Are there many other users?”

“A few dozens.”

“Oh.”

“You were expecting more?”

“I thought maybe I had found my way back home. It’s quite similar,” she explained, waving a hand around, “But there's many more people like me. Thousands. I hoped…” she shook her head. “Well, never mind. Where are we?”

“New York, USA,” Steve offered.

“Earth?” she asked.

He nodded, surprised she knew.

“The year?”

“2018.”

She frowned.

“Bugger.”

“Problem?” Strange asked.

“I'm from Earth, 2004. And I think I've been travelling for one year, tops. I'm not sure whether this is my Earth or not, but people don't just show off their magic where I'm from. You're not even  _ trying _ to blend in,” She added with a scathing look at Strange's attire. “But in any case, I've been travelling through time as well as space and now maybe dimensions so I'm even more lost than I thought.”

She sunk back in her bed with a lost look when someone knocked at the door before gently pushing it open. Bucky walked in with a teddy bear, which was either the most adorable or the most ridiculous thing he'd ever seen. When everyone's eyes were on him, he went ramrod straight and walked stiffly up to the bed, handing her his gift.

She took it, more defeated by what she had learned than angry now, and suddenly started laughing after taking a look at the bear. Bucky relaxed and chuckled along, so Steve looked more closely at the bear, finally noticing Bucky had crossed out the “Get Well” message on the heart the bear was holding and written “Sorry” instead in big block letters.

“You're such a dork, Buck,” Steve said with feeling.

“I'm sorry too,” the woman said. “I shouldn't have hit you, but I almost got eaten by a pack of ice wolves because of you.”

“Hey! I'm the one who pulled you out in the end,” Bucky protested. “Not Captain Nice Guy over there.”

“Really? I seem to remember you got your arm stuck in the mirror and  _ I _ had to pull the both of you out.”

“Really, Steve? You couldn't let me have this one for once.”

“Your arm!” the woman exclaimed, sounding alarmed. “It wasn't protected. Are you alright?”

Bucky twisted his lips in that wry smile that said he'd really rather not talk about it, but they were trying to gain her trust here so he pulled his left glove off and tugged his sleeve up, showing off the metal prosthetic.

“Oh,” she said. “Sorry. I hadn't realized. That looks really advanced. Is it just your arm or-”

“I think you should answer a few questions of your own, miss...?”

“Oh, right. I suppose there's no harm in telling you since this isn't really my world. I'm Hermione Granger.”

“And you're magical,” Strange butted in.

“Yes. How did you know?”

“The mirror feeds on magic to open, so it was a forgone conclusion.”

“Uhm, makes sense,” she agreed, then hesitated before asking: “Where is it now?”

“I have it in my possession if you wish to study it.”

Hermione shuddered.

“No, I don't think so. This seems like the safest, sanest place I've landed in in the past year, so unless you can send me back to where I belong with a 100% guarantee, I'm not risking it.”

Steve and Bucky glanced at Strange who shrugged.

“The multiverse is too big. There is no guarantee whatsoever I can give you. However, if you change your mind, or need training with your magic, you're very welcome to seek me out.”

Without waiting for an answer, Strange magicked a portal and slipped out.

“What a pompous arse!” Hermione exclaimed. “My magic is fine as it is, thank you very much. Training.”

She scoffed and continued muttering under her breath about howlers and flock of birds while Steve shared an amused glance with Bucky. Maybe she wasn't such a bad sort. In fact, she reminded him a lot of Peggy with her temper and how she refused to take shit from anybody, not even the Winter Soldier or the Sorcerer Supreme.

“Can we keep her now?” Bucky mouthed at him over the woman's head.

And Steve nodded his head,because when had he ever refused anything Bucky asked? 


End file.
